Bridge & Burn + OMFGCO Workwear
Three of Portland’s brightest—and tallest—creatives inspire a capsule collection of heavy-duty shop gear
Fritz Mesenbrink and Jeremy Pelley of Portland, Oregon’s prominent design agency, The Official Manufacturing Company, had a problem. Two of the city’s most prominent creative makers, they were both too tall and lanky to fit into standard studio overalls and jumpsuits. Fortunately, long-time friend Erik Prowell, owner and designer of apparel company Bridge & Burn, and himself rather vertically gifted, offered them a solution in the form of custom-designed outfits.
“Erik already had a bunch of silhouettes to work with, ranging from cuts, pocket styles, elbow patches, collar styles and textile options,” says Mesenbrink. “He would give us basic templates and options to play with, we would work with them and show him the results. He would give feedback, and then we would re-work things until it met all of our needs.”
The friends decided to share the results with the public, and the Bridge & Burn + OMFGCo workwear collaboration, was a stunning success. Four cotton twill pieces—a work jacket, shirt, pants and apron—are cut long and slim. Bridge & Burn’s signature stylish, functional details like shoulder patches and bright red jacket linings let the wearer go from the workshop to the bar with ease. “The more brown it got, the more we joked about the UPS uniform,” says Mesenbrink.
Although the line was specifically tailored for Pelley and Mesenbrink’s tall and lanky frames, the line’s appeal is universal. Given its popularity, a women’s line seems like a distinct possibility. “The shirt looks great on ladies, in our opinion, but we’ll definitely do some women’s cuts on the next one—assuming there is a next one,” he says.
The collection is available directly from Bridge & Burn and OMFGCO, and the worker’s uniform is also available through online retailer Need Supply where the collaboration shirt, jacket, pant and apron sell for between $60-$160.
